Within the seven hundred miles of the Three Gorges, with a chain of mountains spanning both shores, is a place without deficiency. Multiple cliffs fold into a range of peaks, concealing the sky and shielding the sun, regardless of whether it is midnoon or midnight, one could not see the light of the day or the moon.

Going as far as the Xia Shui Xiang Ling river, the way upstream is obstructed. Perhaps on a king's hurried order, now and then I would leave Bai Di in the early morning, arriving in Jiang Ling in the evening, such that for a thousand and two hundred miles, even riding as swiftly as the wind, I could not be quick enough.

In the times of spring and winter, there is a clean rush of deep green water, returning a clear reflection. In the high mountain peaks there grew many strange cedars, as well as a falling cataract of water, flying through their midst, pure and glorious, steep and luxuriant, it is very interesting.

During every clear morning when frost started appearing, the woods became cold and the mountain streams were silent, often there were tall apes howling incessantly, evoking a strange feeling of sorrow, the empty valley transferred the sounds, which sorrowfully echoed for a long time before stopping. This caused the author of a fisherman's song to say, "Of the Three Gorges in eastern Sichuan, the Wu Gorge is long, the apes crying out three times resulted in a tear-stained garment."